Accused: Elliot Fogel
(Picture: Daily Mail)London’s Victims Commissioner says her car was left “reeking of sweat” when she believes her stalker broke in and spent hours sifting through her personal possessions, a court heard.
Claire Waxman said her car was broken into but none of the valuables or money were stolen, and she identified Elliot Fogel as the prime suspect.
Fogel, 47, has stalked and harassed Ms Waxman since 2003, racking up a string of convictions, restraining orders, and prison sentences including a three-and-a-half year spell behind bars from 2015.
Giving evidence at Harrow crown court, Ms Waxman – who was appointed by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to represent the interests of London’s victims of crime – described the car break-in after Fogel had been spotted near her home.
“The car smelt of sweat as if someone had been in there for hours”, she said.
“Money was not taken, CDs were not taken, but what was taken was all my empty wrappers, nail vanish, and personal things to me. The things of value were left in the car, and the car reeked of sweat.”
She said police waiting a couple of weeks to investigate the break-in so possible DNA evidence was lost, but they did probe mysterious phone calls she had been receiving – leading to one of Fogel’s convictions.
Describing her experiences over the last 19 years, Ms Waxman said: “We had sightings of him on and off. There were weird phone calls late at night, heavy breathing down the phone, and it being hung up.”
She told jurors that police officers had told her Fogel used her wedding picture as a screensaver and he had paid for background checks into her family, and the Crown Prosecution Service once said in court that the stalker had Googled her name 40,000 times in one year.
Ms Waxman said Fogel forced her to move home repeatedly due to “fear and distress”, and she suspected him of being behind an unusual anniversary card sent to her home.
“It was a diamond wedding anniversary card - 60 years – but with the zero crossed through”, she said. “It was sent on the day the restraining order was imposed, exactly six years after.”
She added: “I will still stand up in a court of law to say I believe Mr Fogel did all of these things.”
Questioned about making the claims in media appearance, she said: “I have spoke about things that have been reported to the police and are part of the police investigation, and are part of my experience as a stalking victim.”
Fogel is currently on trial over his decision to ‘like’ a Tweet about Ms Waxman in 2021, and a letter of complaint he sent to the Mayor of London – her boss – in February this year.
They knew each other briefly as classmates in sixth form, 31 years ago, and Ms Waxman said she has told Fogel repeatedly to leave her alone.
In the letter, he accused Ms Waxman of making “hurtful” accusations about him which he says he has not been convicted of, and claimed she was wasting police time by reporting the Twitter incident.
He also included the results of lie detector tests he has taken, in which he denied breaking into Ms Waxman’s car, posing as a prospective parent at her daughter’s nursery, Googling her name 40,000 times, and sending the anniversary card.
Fogel, a former Sky Sports producer who now runs his own video production company, also denies paying for background checks and making heavy-breathing late night phone calls.
“I fully accept responsibility for my actions that led to the restraining order in the first place”, he wrote in the letter sent to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.
“But it is extremely frustrating trying to defend myself against all the other false allegations.”
He accused Ms Waxman of “being extremely hypocritical” by speaking publicly about delays in the criminal justice system while also reporting the ‘like’ by him of the Tweet.
“I firmly believe it is a complete waste of public time and money”, he added.
In police interview, Fogel admitted ‘liking’ a Tweet which was a reply to Ms Waxman’s post about the government’s rape review, but insisted that was not direct or indirect contact with her – which is banned from under the lifetime restraining order.
“I believe I had every right to like the Tweet”, he said.
Turning to the letter, Fogel said he was “aggrieved” that he had faced a police investigation over the Twitter incident.
“It upset me quite a lot, and it’s frustrating to think the police wasted their time investigating something that should never have been investigated in the first place”, he said.
“I felt so aggrieved at what happened over the months, that’s why I wrote the letter.”
Fogel, from Edgware, denies stalking and three allegations of breaching a restraining order.
The trial continues.
